Disappearing Acts: Marsha "Mudd" Ferber

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2024

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Marsha “Mudd” Ferber (1941-unknown) was a hippie, a back-to-the-lander, a revolutionary, and an outlaw. She was also the owner of The Underground Railroad, an alternative music haven in Morgantown, West Virginia that hosted the likes of The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Grateful Dead. In 1988, she disappeared – and her whereabouts have remained a mystery to this day.

For Further Reading (and Listening!):

Historically, women have been told to make themselves smaller, to diminish themselves. Some have used that idea to their advantage, disappearing into new identities. For others, a disappearance was the end to their stories, but the beginning of a new chapter in their legacies. This month we’re telling the stories of these women: we’re talking about disappearing acts.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones and Abbey Delk. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Wamanica.
0:07.0	Historically women have been told to make themselves smaller, to diminish themselves.
0:12.0	Some have used that idea to their advantage,
0:14.4	disappearing into new identities. For others, a disappearance was the end of their
0:19.7	stories but the beginning of a new chapter in their legacies. This month we're talking about disappearing
0:26.2	acts. Today we're talking about a woman who was known as a mother, a revolutionary, a hippie,
0:32.1	an outlaw, and a drug dealer.
0:34.7	She was the beating heart of Morgantown, West Virginia's alternative music community
0:38.8	until she disappeared in 1988. Let's talk about Marsha Mud Ferber.
0:46.0	Marsha was born in Massachusetts in 1941
0:49.0	and moved to New Jersey while she was still a child.
0:52.0	When her older brother graduated from high school, he went to
0:56.0	college. But Marsha was a woman, which meant that when she graduated, she was sent to secretarial
1:01.2	school.
1:04.2	In 1960, Marsha got married and settled down in West Orange, New Jersey.
1:09.6	This was during the Civil Rights era.
1:11.5	Folks were talking about equality in protesting the war in Vietnam,
1:15.5	and Marsha was listening.
1:17.7	She got engaged, an active participant in democratic politics and in her local synagogue.
1:24.6	She would have people over and host political study groups.
1:29.1	She started a bookstore called Make Up Your Mind.
1:32.4	There was a political section and a children section.
	...

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